creativity
by Northerndawn
Summary: The best romances are ugly and riddled with imperfections. / AkuSai writer's block collection, both AU and vaguely game-compliant.
1. Chapter 1

**because sometimes i am uninspired and i go to the imagineyourotp blog on tumblr**

**sporradic updates because i only write these as they come, which means they will also vary in length- from a few paragraphs to a few sentences.**

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_"Imagine your OTP laying in bed tangled up in each other and the sheets, watching the rain hit the window while it's storming outside."_

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The sheets never matched the covers and the covers never matched the pillowcases and the pillowcases never matched the sheets, but it was okay. It was just how things were.

Little things like that didn't bother Axel, much- he grew up in a poor house of five, and got used to it- but he was pretty sure it drove Saix crazy. The other man wasn't fond of picking up secondhand necessities from thift stores; a jumper here, and old quilt there. Axel almost enjoyed the snide little comments that he made on every single thing that they owned.

He was silent now, though. He was sleeping, quiet snores mingling with the sound of Axel's slow breaths, muffled by their patchwork of bedsheets. Axel's bony fingers were tangled in Saix's hair as he sat up amongst the sea of blankets, staring out at the raindrops on the window. Saix's arm was warm around his waist and his breath hot against the bare skin of Axel's hip, and for once, he felt at peace.


	2. Chapter 2

**urk**

**this is when the heartless take over radiant garden, in case i'm too vague**

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_"Imagine your OTP having an ordinary conversation, and the last thing one of them says before they need to leave is "I'll see you later!"_

_And imagine them never coming back."_

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The schoolbag on his shoulder was heavy with books and papers and other educational miscellanea and there was still the trace of laughter on Lea's face from some corny joke that one or the other had made at one point in their trek. Isa was smiling, as well, though much more discreetly.

Lea thumps Isa on the back, then, after some hesitation, darts forward for a quick peck to the cheek. It's silly- he only lives three houses down, across the street. They can glance out their windows and see the other smiling back. Still, Lea says, "See you later, man."

It was dark that night, and Isa certainly did not see Lea later.


	3. Chapter 3

**yaois**

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_"The first time half your OTP realized they were in love.__"_

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Realizing that he was in love with Isa wasn't some earth-shattering revelation. In fact, Lea was pretty sure he had known it the entire time, since that first time he had talked to the other boy all those years ago.

It didn't change anything, though- not really. Sure, Lea would stand a little closer or let his hands linger a little longer, but if Isa noticed anything, he never commented. And Lea was almost completely sure that he _did _notice. Nothing ever got past Isa.

Even afterwards- after the Heartless, the dark nights, the Organization- Axel was still firm in his conviction. Isa had changed so much, changed into Saix, had become cold and distant and almost cruel, but Axel still saw shadows of his old friend in the other man's unfamiliar gold eyes. And, sometimes, before Roxas and Xion had come about, they even shared the rare, secretive smile when no one was looking.

It made a strange sort of warm feeling bloom in his veins, melting his non-existent heart to goo. But that was silly, wasn't it? Nobodies couldn't feel.


	4. Chapter 4

**ah yes, childhood friends**

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_"Imagine your OTP stargazing and then falling asleep under the stars__"_

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It's hard to feel love when you're eleven and sneaking out with another boy.

It's even harder to feel love when you can't feel anything at all.

But, sometimes, when he looks up at the dark, starry sky and those blessed summer memories come to mind, Saix thinks that- just maybe- he can feel a flicker of something vaguely familiar in his chest.


	5. Chapter 5

**THIS WAS TOO FUN TO WRITE,,,**

**and if you're reading kaleidoscope (my saix 100 themes) you'll see that i've thrown the kh timeline to the wind and just kind of do my own thing now**

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_"Imagine Person A teaching Person B how to dance.__"_

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Axel didn't know how to dance.

It was a funny thought, almost enough to make Saix smile. It was even funnier to think that Saix _did _know how to dance.

The liquid, flowing steps came easily to him, and he was aghast when he heard Axel mention it once to Demyx. On the first authorized vacation day, Saix had grabbed Axel and dragged him to some far-off world with an elegant ballroom and plenty of space.

Axel had been confused at first. He had, obviously, been planning to spend the day with XIII and the puppet- a fact which made Saix feel emptier than usual- and he laughed when Saix told him the reason behind his distress.

But, in the end, he conceded.

It was an awkward affair. Saix only knew the men's part to all the dances, and he had to stop and wonder when Axel had gotten so tall. Isa had always towered above Lea, but now it was the other way around. Axel, for all of his grace in battle, was gangly and uncoordinated, lacking the careful delicacy needed for ballroom dancing.

"No, Lea, to the _left-_"

"That is the left! _I'm going to the left!_"

"-The other left, then. My left, not yours."

The redhead's hand was warm on his shoulder and his heels painful on his toes, but Saix was nothing if not determined.


	6. Chapter 6

**i needed to write somethin different i'm sorrryryryr**

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_"Only you.__"_

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They didn't fit. They weren't perfect. They yelled and argued and when they held hands, their fingers didn't lock together right, not like how they were supposed to.

But that was okay. They worked with it. Lea was loud and irresponsible and Isa was quiet and reclusive, and they were good for each other. Isa tempered Lea's excitable spirit, and Lea coaxed Isa out of his shell, and together they shone more brightly than they ever would apart.

No one saw what they saw. Lea was insensitive and Isa was arrogant; Lea was kind but oblivious, and the one area Isa was unlearned in was people. They helped each other. They were closer than any two people had a right to be.


	7. Chapter 7

**lishia started talking to me about sam and frodo and i started crying and then i started writing**

**i am going to shit in her pillow**

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_"Some memories are realities, and are better than anything that can ever happen to one again."_

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Sometimes- on the dark, lonely nights where the emptiness starts to ache- Saix lets himself remember.

They aren't the best memories, but they're things that he holds dear. Fifteen years, hesitant mouths, clumsy hands, breathy laughter. Cool air makes him shiver and the rough blanket scratches against bare skin.

Fingers creep down his towards the hem of his pants, and, if he keeps his eyes closed, Saix can almost imagine bright green eyes and a warm body hovering over him.


	8. Chapter 8

**ay papi**

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_"I'm almost never serious, and I'm always too serious. Too deep, too shallow. Too sensitive, too cold-hearted. I'm like a collection of paradoxes."_

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In their youth, there had never been a Lea without an Isa, and never an Isa without a Lea. They were completely different and yet exactly the same, clashing and melding until they were all sharp, jagged edges and neither could tell where they stopped and the other began.

A life with no Lea was unimaginable to Isa. He never entertained such thoughts.

Eventually, that fear, that unspeakable impossibility, became his reality.

The long, unending night fell and they cowered in the dark, hands desperate and fingers like claws digging into bruised flesh. They were young, little more than children, thrust into a strange world and unfamiliar life and they were not afraid. They were not anything. They were nothing.

And in that long night they grew, up and older and apart, and the green eyes full of life that Isa had loved so dearly were never known to Saix, who struggled best he could through this un-life of theirs. He was a drowning man but air was not nearly as precious to him as a soft touch or kind word.

But yet he remained silent as the last link to who he used to be drifted away, as green eyes became cool and jaded and unreadable, and smiles were cast upon others who _weren't him_, and he slowly withered in the stillness. He thinks that, if he had a heart, it might have been bleeding.

In the end, he smiled a grim smile and wondered if Lea would be waiting.


End file.
